Sainz to assess Ferrari's progress on 'proper circuit'

Carlos Sainz eagerly anticipates assessing Ferrari’s SF-24 developments at Austin, aiming to validate progress on what he calls a ‘proper, demanding circuit.’

Carlos Sainz appeared relaxed upon his arrival at the Austin paddock, ready to tackle the final six races of the season.

As part of his fitness programme, the Spaniard even spent time cycling with world champion cyclist Tadej Pogacar, his neighbour in Monaco.

“It all happened by chance. He told me he’d planned a recovery programme after the World Championships and asked if I wanted to join him,” the Ferrari driver explained.

“I said yes, and that’s when I discovered that what was an easy training session for him was the hardest of my life, even though I consider myself a good cyclist. Fortunately, he was happy to chat and didn’t leave me behind, but it was impressive to see just how much of a champion he is on a bike.”

Turning to Formula 1, it’s clear that Sainz is eager to see how the SF-24 performs on the demanding Circuit of the Americas.

“We’ve often talked about the good feeling we’ve had with the latest developments we’ve brought to the car, but we’re also well aware that their first real test will be here, on a proper circuit, especially in the first sector. Depending on how the car behaves in the fast corners, we’ll know how good the work we’ve done over the past few weeks has been and what we can expect from the upcoming races.”

Is the team confident in its ability to maintain the form it has shown on street circuits in recent races?

“The more circuits we’ve tackled since introducing the new parts at Monza, the more confident we are that the improvements we’ve made to the car are starting to work pretty much everywhere. But personally, I’ve always said that with the last three races, until we go to Austin and try them on a normal circuit, we can’t measure how much we’ve really progressed on tracks like Zandvoort and Spa, where we had a bit more difficulty last time. So I think this will be the most important test so far for us to see if all these improvements we’ve made are working in the right direction for a more typical circuit like the one we have here in Austin.”

Are there any new parts here, or is it simply a consolidation?

“Nothing new here; it’s what we brought to Monza. And I think we introduced a small improvement to the front wing for Singapore. But yes, more than that, it’s about confirming whether our better pace in the last three races comes more from going to three circuits that really suited us, like Monza, Baku, and Singapore, or if it’s also the improvements that have had a significant effect on our competitiveness on these tracks. And Austin will help us determine which of the two is more important.”